The Nasdaq-100 Index: 100 Stocks, One Exchange, No Financials

In depth9 min read · updated 7 November 2026 · 14 sources

The Nasdaq-100 holds the 100 largest companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange, excluding banks and insurers. That makes it an index of large growth and technology stocks rather than of the US market. This profile explains who gets in, how the capping rules restrain the top, how return and risk differ from MSCI USA, and what happened in the 2023 special rebalance. Unless stated otherwise, figures are as of September 30, 2026.

Nasdaq listings only, no banks: who gets into the index

Sources: methodology and factsheet from Nasdaq (Nasdaq-100 methodology 2026; Nasdaq-100 factsheet 2026).

Two things set the Nasdaq-100 apart from almost all other major indices. First, the listing venue defines the universe: a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange cannot get in, however large it is. Second, financials are missing entirely. Banks, insurers and exchange operators, just over 11% of the S&P 500 (SPDR S&P 500 factsheet 2026), weigh 0.00% in the Nasdaq-100 (Nasdaq-100 factsheet 2026). Foreign companies listed on Nasdaq are eligible instead; at the end of 2025 there were twelve (Nasdaq, NDX one pager 2026).

New stocks are normally added in December. A large non-member can join sooner, though, if its market value would rank among the 40 largest members. IPOs face a short wait: Nasdaq evaluates the company at the end of its seventh trading day and typically adds it after 15 trading days (Nasdaq-100 methodology 2026). The S&P 500, by contrast, requires twelve months of listing.

Caps: how Nasdaq restrains the top

In principle, the Nasdaq-100 weights by market value. Because a few companies are very large, Nasdaq has built in two levels of limits, one for companies and one for individual securities (Nasdaq-100 methodology 2026):

• Quarterly, per company: If a company exceeds 24%, it is cut to 20%. Companies that each weigh more than 4.5% may not reach 48% or more combined; otherwise this group is cut to 40%.
• Annually in December, additionally per security: If a security exceeds 15%, it is cut to 14%. The five largest securities may not weigh 40% or more combined, otherwise they are cut to 38.5%; every other security gets at most 4.4% or as much as the fifth largest.
• Special rebalance: If the 24% or 48% limits are breached between dates, Nasdaq can step in at any time.

The reason is US diversification rules for funds: holdings above 5% may make up at most half of a diversified fund combined (Bloomberg 2023). Without caps, large funds tracking the Nasdaq-100 could breach that limit.

Two thirds technology: what is inside the Nasdaq-100

As of September 30, 2026 (Nasdaq-100 factsheet 2026; MSCI USA factsheet 2026). AMD is not among the ten largest stocks of MSCI USA, so its weight is below that of the tenth (Tesla, 1.54%).

The top looks similar to MSCI USA; below it, the Nasdaq-100 differs sharply. Because there are only 100 stocks and no financials, companies from rank four down weigh much more: Micron almost three times as much as in MSCI USA, Tesla almost twice as much. The effective number of holdings is at most 35.12 (ten largest weights with a sum of squares of 253.67, the remaining 53.14% spread evenly across 91 securities). For comparison, the S&P 500, with five times as many stocks, reaches at most 47 (see S&P 500).

Nasdaq classifies by the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB). Its technology industry also includes Alphabet and Meta, which GICS counts as communication services, so the 68% cannot be compared with the IT weight of the S&P 500 (Nasdaq-100 factsheet 2026; Nasdaq-100 methodology 2026).

According to Nasdaq, the index overlapped by 81% of its weight with the Russell 1000 Growth at the end of 2025, but only by 45% with the Russell 1000 Value (Nasdaq, NDX one pager 2026). At its core, it is an index of large growth stocks. At the December 2025 reconstitution, Western Digital, Seagate, Alnylam, Ferrovial, Monolithic Power Systems and Insmed joined; Biogen, Lululemon, ON Semiconductor, GlobalFoundries, The Trade Desk and CDW left (Nasdaq, January 2026).

21% a year over ten years, a loss of 32% in 2022

Over ten years, the Nasdaq-100 returned 21.16% per year, turning $100 into $681.57. That is just over 5.8 percentage points per year more than MSCI USA. According to Nasdaq, it beat the S&P 500 in 14 of the 18 calendar years through 2025 (Nasdaq, NDX one pager 2026). The price is higher risk: in 2022 it lost 32.38% with dividends, MSCI USA 19.46%. The following year it gained 55.13%.

These figures describe an exceptionally good period for large technology stocks. They do not say whether it will repeat. The years after 2000 show how far a concentrated index can fall: many technology stocks lost most of their value at the time. The article bubbles describes how to recognize such phases and why they are hard to predict.

1998, 2011, 2023: three special rebalances since the 1985 launch

The Nasdaq-100 launched in 1985. So far, Nasdaq has had to apply its capping rules outside the regular dates three times: in December 1998, when Microsoft became too heavy, in May 2011 because of Apple, and in July 2023 (Hill 2023).

In early July 2023, the six companies above 4.5% weighed 50.9% combined (Bloomberg 2023). Nasdaq set the rebalance for July 24, 2023, before the open, based on prices and share counts from July 3; no stocks were added or removed (Nasdaq 2023). The rebalance cut Microsoft's weight by 3.02 percentage points, Nvidia's by 2.96, Alphabet's by 1.78, Amazon's by 1.61, Tesla's by 0.99, Meta's by 0.85 and Apple's by 0.76 (Tahir 2023). Index funds traded about $53 billion, a two-way turnover of 23.6%; according to BNY Mellon, it was the largest rebalance in the index's history (Hill 2023).

For investors, this shows two things. Capping sells exactly the winners that have risen most and buys smaller stocks. And such dates are known in advance: traders can position for them, which can create costs for index funds (see index effect).

Revenue abroad: no figure from Nasdaq, but clear clues

Nasdaq does not publish a regional revenue split for the Nasdaq-100 itself. The industries give a clue: technology companies sell a particularly large share abroad. In the S&P 500, information technology earned 58.19% of its revenue abroad in 2018 according to S&P Dow Jones Indices (Silverblatt 2019), and 56% in 2024 according to an analysis by Goldman Sachs, with semiconductor makers at 67% (Karaahmetovic 2025). Because technology makes up two thirds of the Nasdaq-100 and twelve companies are based outside the US, its foreign share is likely above that of the S&P 500, which is 28% to 43% depending on the calculation.

Nasdaq itself highlights growth: from 2003 to 2024, revenue of the index companies grew 11.6% per year, versus 5.2% for the S&P 500 (Nasdaq, NDX one pager 2026). Part of this is selection: companies that grow fast rise into the top 100, those that shrink drop out.

Against MSCI USA: only 100 companies, no financials, a cap

• Universe: MSCI USA holds 513 stocks from all US exchanges and industries and covers about 85% of the free float (MSCI USA factsheet 2026). The Nasdaq-100 takes stocks from one exchange only and no financials, but includes foreign companies.
• Weighting: MSCI weights by free float without a cap (MSCI GIMI Methodology 2024); Nasdaq caps according to the rules described.
• Concentration: ten largest stocks 46.86% versus 38.19%, effectively at most 35 versus 49 equally sized holdings.
• Return and risk: over ten years 21.16% versus 15.30% per year, in 2022 −32.38% versus −19.46%.
• Classification: ICB at Nasdaq, GICS at MSCI, so industry weights can only be compared roughly.

Clear rules and strong growth, but a bet on one sector

• Strength, clear rules: Inclusion and capping follow published rules without a committee; large new companies get in quickly.
• Strength, growth: The index bundles large companies with high revenue growth and high spending on research and development.
• Weakness, industry: Two thirds technology and no financials make it a bet on one sector, not a picture of the US market.
• Weakness, listing venue: Whether a company belongs depends on where it is listed, not on what it does.
• Weakness, volatility: Losses like those of 2022 are much larger than in the broad market.
• Weakness, capping: Special rebalances force large trades on known dates.

If you own an S&P 500 fund, you already hold the big Nasdaq stocks

Large ETFs track the Nasdaq-100 in the US, several UCITS ETFs serve investors in Europe, and futures and options exist. If you own a world fund or an S&P 500 fund, you already hold the large Nasdaq stocks: NVIDIA, Apple and Microsoft together make up 21.52% of the S&P 500 (SPDR S&P 500 factsheet 2026). An additional Nasdaq-100 fund mainly raises the weight of technology and semiconductors. The look-through shows how much two funds overlap; the backtest shows how a mix would have done in the past.

This article explains a method; it is not investment or tax advice. Worked examples are simplified and rounded. All terms in the glossary.